Method of and apparatus for paralleling straw, fibres, and other elongated members



Sept. 20, 1938. G. A. LOWRY 2,130,353

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PARALLELING' STRAW, FIBERS, AND OTHER ELONGATED MEMBERS Filed Dec. 14, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR I GZU/Ff A. (ah A QQ KAQ /L-ATTORNEY G. A. LOWRY 2,130,353 'VIETHOD OF AND A LELING STRAW GATED MEMBERS PPARATUS FOR PARAL FIBERS, AND OTHER ELON Filed Dec. 14, 1934 Sept. 29, 1938.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 e o o 0 o 0. 000

Q O 0 u O 0- ON. 0 O 00' n O INVENTOR Q 4L; ATTORNEY Sept. 20, 1938. G. A. LOWRY 2,130,353

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PARALL NG STRAW,

FIBERS,

AND OTHER ELONGATED M ERS Filed Dec. 14, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4:

' INVENTOR 625/765 A, [OM/1?) 42;, ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 20, 1938 UNITED STATES METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PARAL- LELING STRAW, FIBRES, AND OTHER.

ELONGATED MEMBERS George A. Lowry, New York, N. Y., assignor of one-half to Martin- Hill Ittner, Jersey City, N. J., and one-half to Bertha McNally Lowry,

New York, N. Y.

Application December 14, 1934, Serial No. 757,528

11 Claims.

The present invention relates to methods of and apparatus for paralleling elongated members such as straw, fibres and bristles, and is of particular importance in lines where large quantities of such members, straw for example, are to be fed substantially continuously for treatment or working thereof and the individual elements must be brought into substantial parallelism prior to such operations. Therefore important objects of the invention relate to the provision of novel and advantageous methods and apparatus for such purposes.

Although the present invention may be applied to advantage in'many arts, it is of especial value for placing in-shape for efiective decortication plant stalks such as flax straw. Flax fibre which is substantially pure cellulose can be used to particular advantage in the manufacture of threads, yarns and fabrics and also as a source of cellulose for the manufacture of rayon and Cellophane as well as other products. Heretofore, however, flax fibre has usually been produced from long straw raised especially for that purpose, such long straws being readily decorticated-that is, reduced to fibre by hand by ordinary machinery. Flax grown for this purpose is known as fibre flax. Flax fibre obtained from v such straw by methods heretofore in use is too expensive for most uses to which it might otherwise be put. As a matter of fact it has heretofore been imperative to keep the straw straight in all its handlings prior to decortication. v

Flax is also grown for flaxseed and is known as seed flax. Thisfiax has in general stems too short for decortication in the usual ways and in threshing the seed flax to obtain the seed the straw is broken up considerably thus reducing it to much less than its original length and the straw as it is discharged from such machines is very much mixed up and crisscrossed. This straw has very little commercial value with the exception of a relatively small quantity which is made into upholstery tow. As a rule the stacks of straw from raising seed flax are burned to get them out of the way and inasmuch as almost three times as much acreage is devoted to raising seed flax as for raising fibre flax, the importance of finding a commercial way of extracting and utilizing this fibre is evident. Before this straw can be' decorticated it is necessary to arrange the various stalks or straws in parallelism. It is therefore an important object of the invention to provide novel and advantageous methods and means for arranging such stalks in parallelism and in feeding the straw to the decorticating machine.

Other objects, features and advantages will be apparent upon consideration of the following description and of the drawings-in which Fig. Us a side elevation illustrating a paralleling device connected with a decorticating machine on a motor truck and extending from said decorticating machine to the ground to facilitate the feeding of the straw thereto;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the paralleling apparatus showing the decorticating machine removed from the truck and the paralleling device in raised position;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 2, parts being broken away to show the underlying structure; i

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating the manner in which the plant stalks or other objects are brought into parallelism;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional view illustrating means for holding the straw down between the pins whereby the straw is brought into parallelism and the means for raising the straw above the top of the pins when the paralleling action is completed;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a single pin and the link by which it is carried;

Fig. .7 is a top view of two connected links; and

Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are views illustrating a modifled form of the invention:

Referring to the drawings, reference numeral i designates a decorticating machine which may be of the general type disclosed in my co-pending application Ser. No. 742,039, filed August 30, 1934. As illustrated in Fig. l, the decorticating machine is mounted on a truck i i and is provided with rearwardly extending brackets i2. A shaft i3 is journalled in members it secured to side frames ii of the frame of the paralleling device. As illustrated most clearly in Fig. 3, the members I have hubs it through which the shaft it passes, and these hubs rest in open members in said brackets It, thus facilitating connection and disconnection of the decorticating machine and the paralleling device. The side frames or bars i support the rest of the paralleling ineans and at their ends remote from the decorticating machine iii are provided with wheels i! which rest on the ground. I

At the wheel-supported end of the paralleling device provision is made for loosening the straw fed thereto, preferably from a stack i9 (Fi it) against which the device is backed. To this end there are provided two rotary members, which. may be in the form of cylinders l9 and 20 with teeth 2i thereon, both of the rotating members being suitably mounted on the side frames l5. As shown most clearly in Fig. 2 the rotary member |9 turns in such a direction that the pins 2| thereon will engage the straw and carry some of it around above this toothed cylinder to a position where it will be engaged bythe pins 2| of the similarly rotating cylinder 20 and carried over the latter to be dumped upon teeth pins 22 car- 'ried by' belts or chains 23.

The teeth or pins 22 perform the actual paralleling of the individual straws and for this purpose the chains carrying the same are actuated at different speeds. As best shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the illustrative machine is provided with sixteen of thesechains or belts of which the outer belts are driven at the slowest speed and the speeds are increased toward the two middle chains which are driven at the highest speed. This variation in speed may be produced in different ways but preferably by use of a plurality of sprocket wheels 24 mounted on the shaft i3 to be actuated thereby, the sprocket wheels at the sides of the machine relatively small and the others being successively larger until the two central sprocket wheels are reached. In addition to the sprocket wheels 24 the sprocket chains 23 pass around two setsof idlers or idler sprockets 25 and 26 supporting the upper reaches of the belts and idlers 21 cooperating with idlers 25 in forming the inclined portions of the chains on a which the straw or other material is thrown by the teeth or fingers 2| on the rotary member 20. The idlers in each of the sets 25, 25 and 21 are preferably of the same size and therefore independently rotatable to accommodate the different speeds of the chains or belts 23 The rotary members I! and 20 are preferably enclosed in a suitable casing 28 which at the bottom holds the material within reach of the teeth or fingers 2|, and the casing 28 may be made up principally of screening to permit discharge of fine dirt and dust separated from the straw as it is tossed around by the toothed members l3 and 20.

As illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 4 straws deposited upon the chains so as to extend transversely thereof are gradually brought into parallelism to each other with all of them extendin in the direction of movement of the belts. of course if straws when originally deposited on the chains extend longitudinally thereof they will remain so until removed from the chains. of course straws and other flexible elongated material placed transversely of rows of pins or teeth moving in the same direction at different speeds will tend to bend partly around the fastest pins which engage them with a combing action thus imparting a positive pulling effect to the straw or other flexible material and dragging it out of a transverse or crisscross direction into a direction substantially parallel to the paths-of the moving pins in a manner that would not be accomplished with nonyielding elongated members. In order to assure effective paralleling action by the pins 22. the straw must be held down between the pins by suitable means such as members or strips 28 extending substantially from end to end of the upper reaches of the chains 23 and between the rows of pins on successive chains. These strips may take different forms and might be parts of traveling endless belts, but as illustrated are strips of suitable material such as metal with their rear ends engaging the casing 23 and theirfront ends turned upwardly above the idlers 25 to enable the parallel straws to be removed from the chains and introduced between endless belts 30 and 3| which carry the straw into the decorticatlng machine l0. .To hold the strips 23 in position they may be attached to the lower ends of pins 32 projecting downwardly from bars 33 extending transversely with respect to the chains and supported at their ends by parts projecting upwardly from the frame members l5. By this arrangement insertion for removal is facilitated.

It is also necessary to provide means for stripping the straw from the pins 22 preparatory to its passage between the endless belts 30 and 3|. To this end provision may be made-of members or strips 34 arranged between the teeth of suecessive chains 23. Strips 34 also have the effect of preventing straw from falling between adjacent chains or from being dragged between them by the differential movement of the chains. Preferably the strips 34 start near the lower part of the inclined portions of the chains 23 upon which the straw is first deposited and are there secured to a crossbar 35 adjacent to the idlers 21 and connected at opposite ends with the frame members |5. In passing the idlers 26 the strips 34 are not turned downwardly with the chains 23 and therefore lift the straw from the pins 22 and guide it towards the lower belt 3| of the pair of belts 30 and 3| which feed the straw into the decorticatlng machine Hi. The ends of the strips 34 adjacent to the decorticatlng machine It might be left free but preferably they pass beneath the endless belt 3| and are curved downwardly, the ends thereof being secured to a cross bar 36 secured to the side members 15, and the curvature being such as to permit upward and downward swinging of the frame including the side members l5 without varying to any substantial extent the distance between the strips 34 and the endless belt 3| where it passes around a supporting and guiding roller or pulley 31 which may be immediately beneath a corresponding roller 35 carrying the upper belt 30.

All of the operating parts may be driven from a pulley or sprocket wheel 39 mounted on the shaft I3 and driven by sprocket chain 4 0 connected with any suitable source of power. When the decorticatlng machine I0 is mounted on a truck the sprocket chain 40 is preferably driven by a sprocket wheel (not shown) operated by the engine of'the truck. Also mounted on the shaft l3, and rotating with sprocket wheel 39 is a sprocket wheel 4| connected by a sprocket chain 42 with a sprocket wheel 43 mounted on a shaft 44 carrying and actuating the rotary toothed member 20. Also fixed on the shaft 44 is a sprocket wheel 45 which is connected by means of a sprocket chain 45 to a sprocket wheel 41 on; a shaft 43. The rotary member I! is mounted ori 'a shaft 43 which may be actuated from the shaft 43 by means of a gear 53 on the shaft 48, a gear 5| on the shaft 49 and an intermediate gear 52,

thus causing the shaft 49 to revolve in the same:

direction as the shaft 44.

, The shaft 3 may also be provided with another sprocket wheel 53 fixed thereon and connected by a sprocket chain 54 to a sprocket wheel 55 mounted on a shaft 55 carrying the loosely mounted idlers or idler sprocket wheels 21 and the shaft 55 may also'have fixed thereon a sprocket wheel 51 connected by a sprocket chain 53 with a sprocket wheel 53 fixed on the shaft 44, thus providing an additional connection between the shafts l3 and 44. Itshould be understood that the means for operating th vari bers 34 so that it may be fedbetween the belts parts of the machine may be varied to a considerable extent without affecting the operation of the apparatus. In order for the idler sprocket wheels of each set 25, 26 and 21 to rotate independently of each other, the sprocket wheels 26 are loosely mounted on a shaft 60, the idler sprocket wheels 25are loosely mounted on a shaft 6|, and the idler sprocket wheels 21 are loosely mounted on the shaft 56.

Upon inspection of Fig. 2 it will be seen that when the decorticating machine and paralleling means are mounted otherwise than on a truck the straw is fed into the casing 28 through a twopart hopper 62 of which one part 63 is preferably a permanent part of the casing 28 and the other part 64 is separable from the first part along a substantially vertical plane. As indicated in Fig. 1 when the material is to be taken directly from the stack and the decorticating machine i is mounted on a truck the portion 64 of the hopper is removed.

Although different forms of chains 23 may be used it has been found desirable to use chains made up as indicated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 of links 65 having narrow and short bodies provided with raised central portions to carry the pins 22 and support the strips 34. Each of these links 65 is preferably provided vat one end with a loop 66 and at the other end with a hook 61 adapted to engage the loop of the next link 65.

In operation straw i supplied to the rotary member l9 and after being cleaned and loosened up by the rotary members I9 and 20 in the perforate casing 28 is thrown uponthe belts 23 and, as it passes up to the point where the upper reaches of the belts 23 begin, it is engaged by the presser strips 29 and pressed down among the pins 22.

of speed of the belts from the outer ones, to the middle ones and combing action of the teeth 22 the straws are gradually brought into parallelism as indicated in Fig. 4. As theparallel straw passes above the sprockets 26 it is released by the presser strips 29 which are turned upwardly at that point and the straw is lifted from the pins or teeth 22 by the strips or stripping mem- 3'0 and 3| into the decorticating machine l0. In view of the fact that the ends of the individual straws overlap to a greater or less extent the longer straws tend to support-the shorter ones and the material has suflicient coherency so that it may be drawn from the strips 34 into the space between the belts 30 and 3| which compact the straw into a thinner sheet or'mat which facilitates the decortication of the straw in the decorticating machine to.

It will be evident that a paralleling action will be produced even where a very small number of chains is used and that the chains in any set may increase in speed from one edge to the other or maybe made up of different sections in which the belts in each section increase in speed from one edge to the other. For some kinds of work it may be desirable to have the rows of pins closer together than, due to the width of the chains, can be obtained inthe arrangement already described. A closer arrangement of the sets of pins may, however, be obtained by providing a second set of belts 23a. with projecting pins 22a, arranged so that the pins 22a extend downwardly between the pins 22 as indicated in Figs. 9 and 10. The chains 23a pass around sprocket wheels 25a, 26a, 24a and 21a in the same general manner as The straw is carried along the upper reaches of the belts and, due to gradual increase the chains 23 pass around their sprocket wheels. Also the sprocket wheels of the upper chains are mounted on shaftsfila, 60a, I31; and 56a. The sprocket wheel shafts of the upper set may be mounted on members (not shown) similar to members I and similarly connected with the decorticating machine. The shaft I341 may be driven in synchronism with the shaft l3 of the lower set of chains.

It will be evident that the apparatus and method of the present invention are of very great value in that they render it feasible to take mixed up masses of elongated objects and bring them into parallelism to enable their use for various purposes and in a case of seed flax which has been threshed to take up the mixed up masses from a stack in a field, bring the straws into parallelism, feed them into the machine and decorticate them. When the decorticating machine is arranged on a truck, provision may also be made of a baling machine so that when a sufficient uantity of the decorticated fibre of unretted flax straw, herein referred to as crude fibre, has accumulated, it may be compressed into a bale.

Where upper and lower chains are used, it is preferable to have the first lower chain the slowest, the first upper chain a little faster and the same alternate increase of speed continued up until the. chain of highest speed is reached.

It should be understood that changes may be made in the various features .and that various features may be used without others without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention I claim: 1. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a group of endless chains having straight reaches arranged side by side, a row of supplying such agitated straw continuously, a

paralleling device with a combing action receiving the straw from such supplying means, means for continuously feeding endwise strawsbrought into parallelism by said paralleling device, and a decorticating machine arranged to work in synchronism with said paralleling device and to re-' ceive the straws from the continuously feeding means,whereby crude substantially parallel fibre is produced from said tangled straw.

3. A feeding device for supplying tangled straw,

said feeding device having a hopper,'means for agitating straw supplied by the feeding device to clean the straw by the removal therefrom of dust and dirt, means for converting the straw thus cleaned from a tangled condition to a condition of parallelism, a decorticating machine, and means for conveying such paralleled straw endwise into said decorticating machine, whereby said paralleled straw may be decorticated and substantially paralleled crude fibre may be produced from said tangled straw.

4. In apparatus of the class described, the

bination of parallel rows of teeth and means for moving said rows of teeth at gradually increasing speeds from one row to the next adjoining row whereby flexible elongated objects deposited thereon will be bent into line with said rows of teeth by the varied speeds of said rows of teeth, and into parallelism with each other, said parallel rows of teeth being carried by moving members, and means to prevent said elongated objects from falling between said moving members.

5. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of endless chains having straight reaches thereof arranged side by side, a row of teeth extending longitudinally of each of said chains, means for driving the chains so that the speeds thereof gradually increase from one chain to the next adjoining chain, and means for holding straw deposited on said teeth down between the teeth.

6. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of endless chains having straight reaches thereof arranged side by side, a row of pins extending longitudinally of each of said chains, means for driving the chains so that the speeds thereof gradually increase from one chain to an adjoining chain so that flexible elongated obplaced thereon, and freeing said paralleled unscutched straw at the discharge ends of said straight reaches, and means for lifting the straw from said teeth when thus freed.

8. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a plurality of endless chains having straight stretches arranged side by side and inclined stretches leading upwardly to said straight stretches, means for actuating said chains at regularly differentiated speeds one from another, a row of teeth extending longitudinally of each of said chains, hold-down members between the rows of teeth of said straight stretches whereby straw. deposited on said inclined stretches will be carried beneath said hold-down members so that the teeth on said chains moving at differential speed, one from another, will comb the individual straws into parallelism, said hold-down members terminating near the discharge ends of such straight stretches so as to free the paralleled straw from said teeth.

9. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a plurality of endless chains having straight upper stretches arranged side by side, a row of teeth extending longitudinally of each of said chains, means for actuating said chains at I gradually differentiated speeds, one from another, with chains moving at certain speeds and adjoining chains moving at different speeds, means for holding straw down on said teeth over the upper reaches of said chains to assure the paralleling of individual straws by the combing action of said teeth and means for lifting the paralleled straw from said teeth.

10. In apparatus of the class described, the

combinationof a plurality of endless chains having straight upper stretches arranged side by side, a row of teeth extending longitudinally of each of said chains, and means for actuating said chains at regularly differentiated speeds, whereby stretches arranged side by side, a row of teeth extending longitudinally of each of said chains, a second lot of endless chains having straight lower stretches arranged side by side, rows of teeth individual to said endless chains of the second lot and extending downwardly between the rows of teeth on the upper stretches of the first mentioned chains, and means for operating all said chains at regularly differentiated speeds, one from another,

so that the teeth on said chains will comb straw placed therebetween into parallelism.

GEORGE A. LQWRY. 

